Epic 8-man football thriller with 174 points captures small-town Kansas magic
For nearly four hours on Friday night, the lights in Cedar Vale burned over something wild.
What unfolded on that 8-man football field in a town just off Highway 166, about 90 minutes southeast of Wichita, was pure drama: two teams that refused to quit, refused to give in and refused to slow down.
Cedar Vale-Dexter and Oswego traded touchdowns like haymakers, combining for 174 points and two lead changes in the final 70 seconds of a district championship thriller. When the dust finally settled, Cedar Vale-Dexter escaped with an 88-86 victory — decided by a single yard and the final second of regulation.
“It was a special night in small-town Kansas,” Cedar Vale-Dexter coach K.B. Criss said. “That was what Friday night lights in America is all about. It’s one I’ll never forget it.”
The wildest fourth quarter imaginable in 8-man football
Oswego led 56-42 early in the third quarter, then Cedar Vale-Dexter exploded for four straight touchdowns, surging ahead 72-56 midway through the fourth.
That’s when the night turned from wild to unforgettable.
Oswego’s electric running back Demitri Williamson, who scored 10 total touchdowns in four different ways, returned a kickoff for a touchdown, then Oswego recovered an onside kick. Less than a minute later, Williamson struck again, slicing the deficit to 72-70 with more than six minutes remaining.
“Games of that nature, they’re long, they’re emotional, they’re draining,” Oswego coach Matt Fowler said. “You go through a roller coaster of wild swings, up and down, for three and a half hours.”
But nobody blinked.
“There were so many highs and lows for both teams, but nobody ever quit,” K.B. Criss said. “It would have been easy for kids to get their heads down, but they just kept hanging in there, fighting and believing.”
Cedar Vale-Dexter running back Royce Potter (168 yards, six touchdowns) gave the Spartans breathing room at 80-70, but Williamson wasn’t finished. He scored again, then returned a punt 75 yards for a touchdown with just over a minute left — putting Oswego back on top 86-80.
“We knew all week that it was going to be a shootout, so I knew we needed to score every time we touched the ball,” Cedar Vale-Dexter quarterback Cooper Criss said. “When you’re in a game like that, you have to stay level-headed. You know you are going to make mistakes, but you have to keep your head because you know you’re going to get another shot.”
When Criss got his, he made the most of it.
The junior quarterback marched the Spartans down the field in a nine-play drive, capped by a 15-yard touchdown pass to Wyatt Martin with 13 seconds left. On the two-point conversion, Criss powered through the middle to give Cedar Vale-Dexter an 88-86 lead.
Bedlam erupted on the Cedar Vale-Dexter sideline, but the coaches knew victory was not yet secured.
“We were excited to take the lead, but in the back of our minds, we knew no lead was safe in that game,” K.B. Criss said.
Sure enough, Oswego connected on a deep pass to set up one final play — 10 yards away from the end zone. Williamson took a sweep to the right, racing for the pylon as defenders closed in. He lunged, stretching the ball toward the goal line.
For a heartbeat, nobody knew. Players from both teams raised their arms in celebration, believing their team had just won an epic.
After a tense conference, officials ruled Williamson had been pushed out just inches short. Game over.
“You preach all season long how precious every second and every inch is,” Fowler said. “But until you have something like this happen, that’s when those lessons are cemented. If there was one more second on the clock, one more conversion ... but that’s 8-man football for you.”
The agony and the grace of small-town high school football
Fowler has actually been here before. He was also Oswego’s coach during a 106-98 loss to Marmaton Valley in 2021, still the highest-scoring game in Kansas high school football history.
That experience gave him perspective amid the heartbreak.
“Losing a game like that hurts so much,” Fowler said. “And I know it sounds weird, but this is what makes sports so great. The pain is a side effect of your commitment level. You hurt because you care. But you have to realize the sun still comes up the next day, God is still great, and you have to pick yourself back up and fight again.”
Both coaches agreed Friday’s game was a testament to the beauty of 8-man football, where whole towns turn out and games like the one on Friday become folklore.
As Cedar Vale-Dexter players celebrated a Homecoming win and a District 1 championship, Criss looked across the field to his dejected opponent and felt something deeper.
“I’ve been on the other end of games like that, and you just hate for anybody to lose,” Criss said. “Obviously I was happy that we won, but I was thinking about coach Fowler and their kids and how hard they played. I wanted to wrap them up in a hug because they played their hearts out.”
When it was over, the scoreboard told one story.
But the night itself told another, about resilience, respect and the enduring magic of small-town Kansas football.
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